


dissolving like the setting sun

by worrying



Category: The Get Down (TV)
Genre: Coming Out, Gen, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 16:46:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10643973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worrying/pseuds/worrying
Summary: Dizzee wants to talk to Yolanda. Turns out, she wants to talk to him, too.





	

Yolanda’s painting his nails. It’s the first time he’s had something other than red or blue, which, of course, was Yolanda’s idea. She had picked out a bright orange, beautiful and almost neon. It reminds him of sunsets, of chilly nights out on a rooftop with his brothers.

Dizzee’s an artist, yes, he’s careful with colors and moves his hands in delicate strokes to create vibrant pieces, but there’s something about painting his own nails. It never comes out right, it’s sometimes sloppy. He gets the paint on his skin and has to spend a few minutes washing it off under warm water. But his sister? She’s a master at this, he’s come to find out.

And she’s wonderful. And she doesn’t think it’s weird. Dizzee was nervous the first time he asked her to paint his nails, his voice uncharacteristically soft and low, barely a whisper. She’d looked at him like he had two heads and Dizzee thought, _oh_ , here it comes. But instead of a scoff and a “ _You want me to do what?_ ” her lips had softened into a smile, “Why didn’t you ask me sooner?”

Reds and blues were safe colors to him. Yolanda rolled her eyes and picked out an orange. Something different.

He thinks of Thor, orange stripes of paint spilling down the soft curves of his back.

He wants to tell Yolanda about him. Because she wouldn’t think of him differently once he told her. Ra, Boo? They might take awhile to understand, and Dizzee gets that. But, Yolanda? She listens to everything with an open mind, she’s never one judge someone.

Dizzee inhales a little, shifting on Yolanda’s bed. She looks up from his left hand, lifting the brush from his fingernail.

“You okay?”

“I just—” Dizzee’s voice feels like it doesn’t work anymore. His throat feels dry, like it’s closing without his permission. He swallows, closes his eyes. “I kinda wanna tell you something.”

Yolanda closes the nail polish, sets it aside on the comforter. Dizzee focuses on the bottle, doesn’t dare meet her eyes. “Diz, you know you can tell me anything, right?”

He does. And that’s why he takes another deep breath. “My friend, Thor?” He looks up to meet her eyes. They’re soft. “He’s not really my friend. I mean, he is—”

“He’s more than a friend?” She finishes for him. Her lips curve into a small smile, and she lets her hand rest on Dizzee’s knee. “Diz, that’s okay. Love isn’t a bad thing.”

All the negative energy in his body comes rushing out in an exhale. He lets his eyes close again for a moment, thanking whoever out there in the universe for giving him a sister like Yolanda. When he opens his eyes again, she’s still smiling. “I thought…I don’t know, I thought you’d be a good person to tell. Ra and Boo, I don’t think they’d understand. At least at first, you know?”

“Yeah, I get it. I…If we’re being honest here? I think I might not like boys. And that’s okay.”

Dizzee feels himself smile, looks at his sister in wonder. “Really?”

Yolanda’s looking down at her pink nails, biting at her bottom lip nervously. “Yeah. I’ve known for a long time, I just didn’t really know what to do about it. Mylene and _Regina_ , they’re always talking about boys. It’s hard to play along sometimes. Especially with Regina.”

“Especially with Regina?”

Yolanda just stares at him, eyes wide and a _oh, c’mon_ , smile. It takes Dizzee a few seconds to realize what she’s trying to say, but once he _does_ get it, he laughs quietly into the side of his hand, careful not to smudge the nail polish. “Since when?”

“Since forever, it feels like. Tell me more about Thor,” she says excitedly, sitting up straighter. The radio in the corner of her room is blasting disco music, something he hasn’t heard before.

“He’s…” Dizzee trails off slowly. How does he even _begin_ to describe Thor? “I met him one night when I was with Crash and Daze. The cops were coming and I was running into the tunnel, and he… just grabbed me and pulled me into this hiding spot. I don’t know, Yolanda. We were meant to meet, me and Thor. It was one of those in the right place at the right time kind of things. And this _party,_ you have to come with me one day.”

“What kind of party is it?”

“Free people,” Dizzee says, and the smile on his face feels permanent. “Birds. You’re free to be whoever you want. Thor invited me one night, and it’s like…everything clicked. Nothing’s wrong with me, and he showed me that.”

“ _God,_ that sounds incredible, Diz. I can’t wait to meet someone.”

“It’ll happen when you least expect it.”


End file.
